MainWP Blog - Donata Stroink-Skillrud
Donata Stroink-Skillrud is an attorney licensed in Illinois and a Certified Information Privacy Professional. She is also the legal engineer behind Termageddon, a SaaS that has generated thousands of Privacy Policies and successfully kept them up to date with changing legislation. Donata is also the Chair of the American Bar Association's ePrivacy Committee and Vice-Chair of the Chicago Bar Association's Cybersecurity and Privacy Committee. Donata is also the past Chair of the Chicago Chapter of the International Association of Privacy Professionals along with being Privacy Liaison for MainWP.
EU Cyber Resilience Act: What You Need to Know
Published on November 19, 2024 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under Privacy, WordPress Business, WordPress Security
EU Cyber Resilience Act: What you need to know How many connected or “smart” devices do you have in your home? From Amazon Alexa to the Ring doorbell, to smart refrigerators, to smart lightbulbs, connected devices don’t just help us manage our households, they also introduce serious cybersecurity risks. In fact, there were over 112 million Internet of Things (IoT) cyber attacks worldwide in 2022. These attacks can range from the hacking of baby monitors to watch a mother breastfeed Continue reading the post...
How privacy can inspire trust and create a competitive advantage
Most businesses will begrudgingly comply with privacy laws in order to avoid fines and lawsuits. In fact, with over two dozen privacy laws already in place, non-compliance can be costly (starting at $2,500 per violation). In addition, businesses have received demand letters in the tens of thousands of dollars and have even been sued for tracking website visitors without their consent, violating the California Invasion of Privacy Act. With over a dozen proposed privacy bills, these compliance requirements are not Continue reading the post...
FTC Claims that Large Companies Engage in Surveillance of Users
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released a 129-page report that claims that large social media and streaming companies engage in a “vast surveillance” of users and profit off of personal data, signaling the FTC’s interest in protecting the privacy of consumers. The report states that the tech industry failed to implement appropriate safeguards against privacy risks, used personal data to shape content to keep users on their platforms, and introduced significant risks to children and teens. The report focuses Continue reading the post...
New York Attorney General’s Guidance on Cookie Consent Banners
Published on August 30, 2024 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under About, Privacy, WordPress Business, WordPress Security
What businesses need to know Due to recent fines and lawsuits, many businesses have chosen to implement a cookie consent banner on their website, asking website visitors whether they would like to be tracked through tools such as Google Analytics, Google AdWords, and Meta Pixel. While this banner may be required by laws in certain states or countries, some states that have no such requirement have been taking note of the fact that the layout and implementation of these banners Continue reading the post...
Walmart Sued for Sharing Personal Data
On July 15, 2024, a class of plaintiffs filed a lawsuit against Walmart claiming that the company violated the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) by sharing customer personal data and the titles of videos that they purchased with Meta. Interestingly, Walmart is not the first company to be sued under the VPPA, a privacy law passed in 1988 that was meant to prevent the disclosure of video tape rental records. Since the VPPA allows damages of up to $2,500 per Continue reading the post...
American Data Privacy Rights Act of 2024
What You Need to Know The truth is that whenever a federal privacy law is proposed in the United States, everyone (especially privacy professionals) becomes very excited. Why? Because the current US state privacy law patchwork, where every state is proposing and passing its own privacy laws, is very difficult to navigate and compliance is becoming increasingly complex and costly. A federal privacy law would alleviate this complexity by setting one standard that businesses must follow. However, much of the Continue reading the post...
A Privacy Law to Protect Brain Activity? What the Latest Amendment to the Colorado Privacy Act Means
Published on May 15, 2024 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under Privacy, Tips & Tricks, WordPress Business
On April 17, 2024, the Colorado legislature passed an amendment to the State’s comprehensive privacy law, the Colorado Privacy Act to provide protections for brain activity data and similar biological data. This is truly a one of a kind development that requires companies that collect this type of data to gain consent prior to the collection of brain activity data, to be transparent about how such data is used, and to provide residents of Colorado with privacy rights with regard Continue reading the post...
EU AI Act: What You Need to Know
Published on March 25, 2024 by Donata Stroink-Skillrud under MainWP News, Privacy, WordPress Business
On March 13, 2024, the European Parliament voted in favor of the European Union Artificial Intelligence Act (EU AI Act), a landmark regulation that imposes requirements for AI technologies. The Act sets forth a comprehensive framework for the development, use and marketing of AI and aims to support innovation while mitigating the harmful effect of AI systems in the European Union. The Act reaches these goals by classifying AI according to its risk, placing obligations on developers and deployers of Continue reading the post...
Privacy Deceptive Design Dark Pattern Enforcement Sweep Coming
Privacy deceptive design enforcement coming On January 23, 2024, Italy’s Data Protection Authority released a statement that a deceptive design investigation and enforcement sweep will take place between January 29th and February 2nd, 2024. The purpose of the sweep is to analyze websites and applications for deceptive designs that cause individuals to make unwanted and harmful choices concerning their privacy. Upon completion, the results of the sweep will be used to organize awareness activities, contact website and application owners regarding Continue reading the post...
What Will 2024 Bring? Privacy Predictions
Prediction: Multiple states will propose and pass their own privacy laws As we have seen in previous years, states are not willing to wait on the federal government to provide privacy protections to their residents and are therefore proposing and passing their own privacy laws. Currently, there are over 30 proposed privacy bills in the United States and it is very likely that quite a few of them will be passed over the next year. In addition, it is very Continue reading the post...
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